I like Callaway a lot, but you have to pick it before it gets mealy.
I think Wickson is good, but not amazing. I also like Whitney, which is probably my second favorite. My favorite is Maypole Spire, which is an obscure red-fleshed crabapple that is available from the dude in Yoncalla, Oregon, Nick Bottner. I have also gathered many varieties from neighbors, who were happy to share scions with me.
I like crabapples. They greatly help with pollination, and like most adults, I could stand to lose a few pounds. Crabapples are little.
John S
PDX OR
I rather enjoy the Hansen Red Flesh I have, but the best tasting crab I've ever eaten is the U. of Minnesota selection, "Chestnut". Had some at the U. of Minn one time and enjoyed it so much I hand carried a bag of it home for the family. I'd start some but haven't seen the variety at the Scion Exchange.
My father's orchard had Dolgo, Whitney, and Chestnut. I have Dolgo, which makes excellent jelly but is IMO really too small and tart to have much appeal as a dessert apple. Whitney and Chestnut are larger, and while tart, have a certain appeal as dessert apples to people who like subacid fruit. Whitney, if I recall correctly, is the better eating apple of the two. Whitney and Dolgo are both Zone 3 apples, and disease resistant, which is a good deal of their appeal. The trees really are remarkably resistant to disease and insects. My father complained that they were the best yielding, most maintenance free trees in his orchard but he didn't like the fruit.
I suspect these crabs ripen around the same time as ‘full-sized’ apples..? If so, and you ever begin pressing juice, their “subacid fruit†characteristics would/should be ideal to blend with ‘regular (too sweet) apples,’ giving you a richer and more complicated blend!
Though the ease of maintenance and pollen production from a crab is likely a good enough reason to have one, I haven't any… Maybe when the next ‘hole’ opens up 
Dolgo does add a certain character to juice not otherwise present. Due to the small size of the fruit, and hence, by mere mathematics, a greater amount of peel area compared to the volume of juice, Dolgo juice has high pectin content and (if heat is used during extraction) a brilliant, ruby red color.
Dolgos also make a passable hard cider (though they are early apples and therefore difficult to blend with the typically much later cider apples), and are an excellent pollen source.
I realized that I made a mistake when I posted earlier. I mixed up Wickson and Whitney. Whitney ripens in August, tastes good, and is a great pollinator, but vanishes quickly and in my opinion, has a good but not great flavor. The fruit arranges itself in bunches.
Wickson, which was cited by Marnhart in his book as one of the 50 great apples, is one of my favorite apples, period. It's a big crabapple that has a tart, complex flavor. The flesh is somewhat dense and the skin is slightly thicker, making it hard for the codling moth to make its way. Most of them have bites, but they give up and go for something else. Even the ones that have been nibbled by codling moths don't taste any worse. Wickson seems to ripen over a very long period of time. It is ripening now, and I was eating them in September too, although they were probably at their peak a couple of weeks ago. When they get a watercore, they are sweeter and more delicious. Because they ripen during all this time, they are great for cider. Being a crabapple, they are also great for pollination. I have accidentally left one in my bike pouch and it was great a month later. The fancy varieties that I bought for 90 cents each at the farmer's market don't hold a candle to Wickson grown in my yard, in my opinion.
Did I mention that I like this crabapple?
John S
PDX OR
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